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Sunday, August 07, 2011

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY, August 7, 2011--Given the recent clarion call to transparency, the official ruling regarding the non-disqualification of Bound By Humor in Saturday’s finale certainly was a curious one. Not necessarily a bad one, just a little perplexing.

The stewards’ report recounts that: “At the top of the stretch, #13 Ground Force drifts in and brushes #6 Bound By Humor, in tight quarters on the rail.

“Those two continue to race close with light brushing, and inside the sixteenth pole, #6 Bound By Humor, under a left handed crop, shifts out bumping #13 who in turn bumps #12 Wee Freudian on the outside.

“Bound By Humor is turned out with that contact and R. Maragh makes a strong effort to straighten, taking off #13 and finishing to the wire.

“In the judgment of the stewards, the contact between these three horses did not alter the finish of the race. The race was declared Official as is.”

A few observations. In our view, #13 came in slightly at the top of the stretch initiating the contact, and the two indeed proceeded down the lane exchanging bumps. But here’s where it gets a little dicey.

Bound By Humor, responding to the left handed whip, drifted out significantly and made solid contact with Ground Force.

Yes, Maragh did make a strong effort to straighten, but as far as his mount “turning out with the contact,” whose fault was that if not his own, the product of Bound By Honor‘s reacting to the whip?

Maragh doesn’t get points for making an effort to straighten his mount; he’s bound to make an effort to straighten his mount. And where did this leave third finisher Wee Freudian?

On the outside looking in.

Ground Force was “Bumped late and forced into Wee Freudian,” is how the official footnote reported the incident. That’s the way we interpreted the events, too.

And that apparently also was the way that Michael Sternklar saw it. Sternklar, the owner of Wee Freudian, is appealing the non-disqualification.

Now here’s the issue. Wee Freudian, who, ironically, was in an oft-repeated bumping match with Ground Force on the backside, nevertheless was an apparent victim of the non-disqualification.

The #6 and the #13 battled it out in close quarters through the stretch. The #13 started it, but when the #6 retaliated, justified or not, in the rough and tumble incident that he caused, the #12 was compromised.

The stewards ruling concluded that the contact “did not alter the finish of the race.”

That judgment call can be justly argued, but the half length margin between the first and second finisher, and the second and third finisher, probably is what got Maragh off the hook and Bound By Honor the money. Had it been closer, it would have been different--and possibly adjudicated differently.

It’s extremely unlikely that the State Racing and Wagering Board will reverse the stewards ruling, reasoning that the stewards judgment call was the correct one under the circumstances.

Conspiracy theorists, believing that the judges did not want to render a negative decision because $1.2 million of Pick Six money was at stake, actually have it backwards.

A disqualification would have resulted in no one hitting the Pick Six--nine bettors hit the wager for $88,000 each--and given the trend of Pick Six wagering this meet, bettors would have spent about $4 million chasing the carryover.

Saturday night’s non-disqualification had lots of players walking around town scratching their heads saying they couldn't believe that their number wasn't taken down. Those fans and Sternklar both.

I’ve long been in the camp that race results should stand without alteration, and the stewards should meet out their rather capricious brand of justice after the fact - to jockeys and owners only - leaving the fortune of us bettors outside their reach. This non-call only reinforces that opinion. I think they were swayed by the Pick 6 implications. I think they probably didn’t want the heat that would have come with dq’ing 9 people out of 86k. If this had been the second race on the card I can’t imagine that horse wouldn’t have come down. So, now they have set a precedent. And if that horse didn’t deserve to be dq’ed, what horse will?

I’ve had this discussion with another reader, but in person.
If you’re talking degrees of guilt, as stated, the contact made by Maragh’s mount #6 clearly was more egregious.
But the #13 was guilty as well and initiated the events. The better case, in my view, is that both #s should have come down in that #12 was an innocent victim and, again IMO, it could have cost him a position.
So, I have made a judgment. So have you, and so have the stewards. You can agree with either or not at all. These are judgment calls and, as such, stand on the merits--and the demerits.
Philosophically, I agree with you. The actions of jockeys requiring discipline should not involve the betting public whenever possible. But this is another imperfect solution. Is it fair to the bettors of the second horse to not be rewarded if the horse and rider who beat them did so unfairly?
These are not easy fixes. The only thing I ask for is consistency. On this, we shall see in the future. But, as posted, IMO, this was a matter of degrees of guilt on both sides. I was prepared to live with whatever came down; it wasn’t cut and dry.
Thought provoking post. Thsnks,
JP

Obviously #6 bore out into #13 who in turn bore out slightly,IMO into #12.
The incident happened very close to the wire.
I thought #12 had passed #13 when the bumping occured and I also thought there was no chance #12 was going to pass the winner irregardless of interference.
So I agreed with the stewards decision. Had there been no bumping, I think the order would have 6-12-13. Exactly as it was.

Just one more incident that pushes fans away from racing and keeps new ones from trying it. Unresolved controversy that involves who gets paid and who gets robbed piled onto a system that already steals from every wagering fan (breakage/unreasonable takeout) does nothing to attract or keep customers.

Two more days and the round table results will be available for use as toilet paper and starting fires. No one else involved with the decision making in this industry has cared about their decisions for 57 years now. I love this drama.

Another recent incident at Tdn in Ohio involved a female jock, who during a race, dropped her whip and was then given one by another jock around the 1/4 pole during the running of the race. He finished 6th w/o his whip and she 4th with his whip. 14 day suspension for her. She was also fined for 2 other erlier incidents recently. She was caught trying to turn in someone else’s urin sample as her own and for standing up on her mount at the finish too early causing it to lose and come in 2nd.

No. She is still a jock. Still employed by racing. Do you really think this girl would not pull up a big fav if someone offered her a snoot full of some illegal drug and a dollar to throw the race??? I mean, really??? Can you say “cesspool”?

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